Gliding Fury and Magnum Shot
by Jenni N
Summary: Kai joins the team and Lann gets a little jealous of the attention Kai receives. And if that wasn't all, they get separated from Fiona, Evie, and Karok during a run in a dungeon and lost their map.
1. Prologue

Lann had spent a good couple of years in Colhen. The first few days he had arrived in Colhen, short upon his arrival in the Crimson Blades, he met Fiona. At first, the impression she gave off was that she was silent and serious. And for their first couple of missions, she showed off impressive strength that he didn't expect.

Time passed and he now saw that even the solemn Fiona cracked a small smile here and there. During battles, when he would often rush ahead and fly backwards limpy for thirty feet, Fiona would take care of his attacker and nurse him back to health. She never really admitted it, but she deeply cared for his wellbeing, and even though he was known to be the fastest dualswordman in Colhen, he never seemed to remember his defense was crappy.

Sometimes, he would try to make her smile (and even laugh once or twice) when they got back to Colhen just to savor the looks of jealousy thrown at him from his other male comrades. Even Marrec mentioned that Fiona was stunning, and sometimes Lann took advantage of her beauty just to feel special.

A year or two after the two had been partners, a young bubbly mage joined their team. Evie was new to Colhen, but even so she learned quickly after Lann and Fiona walked her through the Perilous Ruins and Hoarfrost Hollow. After she was skilled enough to go to Ainle (even though they technically weren't allowed there at the time) she was a force to be reckoned with, and even Lann was nervous around her blasts of fire and shards of ice. Evie often teased him about it and performed those moves near him just to see him jump and cower away from her. He often hid behind Fiona, and sometimes she'd move out of the way, not wanting to be bothered with the silliness.

Of course, the mage was a big help and the three were getting stronger and stronger. Evie healed them with her Healing Corona when needed and the erg crystals she made from random jugs or vegetables saved their lives multiple times. And, like Fiona, he didn't mind showing Evie off either. Lann couldn't be any happier with his little team.

But of course, he became happier with his team after the giant Karok came to town. Towering over all other mercenaries, it was nearly impossible to not notice him. When he first joined the Crimson Blades, Lann thought that a giant with muscles like his would be a great addition. He offered to help Karok around, hoping to share a bond that Evie shared with Fiona.

Evie and Fiona (99.99% of the time, it was Evie) talked to each other about their problems. Problems that they didn't mention in front of Lann. He found that a little aggravating, but with Karok quickly stepping up his game, he found himself a friend he could trust for the years to come. Karok made him feel at ease; he enjoyed seeing the fear in the Fomors' eyes when they see Karok swinging his massive bone breaking pillar around like it was a stick

Four. Yes, the four of them had countless memories together and countless missions that they carried out. The happiness of realizing that they were still alive, the agony of losing Ellis in Ainle, the fear of losing one another, the hope they all held for Erinn...they all shared it and their bonds were unbreakable.

Lann thought that life was good. He thought that the four of them would always be friends and no one else could take their friendship away.

And then...Kai came.


	2. Thunder and Lightning

It was raining heavily over Colhen. The damp wood left a musty smell at the Mercenary Outpost and water had leaked through the cracks in the ceiling. Ceara and Evie rushed about with pots and pans to catch the droplets of water while Karok held a ladder steady for Lann to fix the cracks.

The door opened as lightning flickered in a wicked blue-purple pattern across the dark sky. Fiona threw back the hood of her cloak, carrying supplies that would be needed to fix the ceiling. Marrec trailed in behind her with the rest of the supplies.

"What took you two so long?" Lann asked irritably, both his hands supporting the ceiling as water dripped freely onto his face. He could not wipe the water away or else the roof would give way, collapsing onto him and Karok.

"Sorry." Marrec said as he and Fiona set the supplies down on the wooden floor. The floorboards creaked as Marec walked over to another ladder. "Ferghus was busy today. The outpost isn't the only building around here with leaks." he explained, leaning the ladder against the wall near Lann. He climbed up and Fiona passed up the tools for Marrec to seal the crack.

Lann sighed in relief as he lowered his hands. He climbed down the ladder and reached for a slightly used towel. "How many more?" he called over his back to Evie as Marrec hammered away.

"Um..." The young mage sweeped the ceiling with her eyes and said, "About five more, I think? After this we have to go to the stable and fix the leaks there. Horses need to keep dry too, after all."

Ceara sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Who could have seen this storm coming?" She snapped her attention to a slumbering man in the corner. "Hey! Gallagher! Wake up and help us already!"

Gallagher stirred, but didn't wake. Ceara clicked her tongue impatiently, muttering, "Honestly, you'd think he'd at least hold the ladder for Marrec or something."

Thunder clapped. The room trembled and everyone, excluding Gallagher (the Lazy), glanced to the ceiling, pausing to listen to the mighty boom. The candles even flickered as if they were affected by it.

Evie bent over to examine the candles, a thoughtful expression laid out on her face. "We need more candles." she said. "Most of them are barely an inch."

Lann jerked his thumb to Gallagher. "You think he'd be willing to go get more?"

Fiona looked at Gallagher. "If you mention that some pretty girl would be there, probably." she sighed in disapproval. Shaking her head, she reached up to take the hammer Marrec was using and held the ladder for him as he came down, jumping down the last few feet.

Lann had a sudden, strong urge to whisper into Gallagher's ears and persuade him to fetch candles with promises of a kiss from Fiona, Evie, and Ceara. He glanced over his shoulder. Marrec was carrying the ladder to another leaky area and Fiona joined Evie by the candles. Ceara rushed to help Marrec. Karok went to get more wood for Marrec in the pile of supplies on the floor.

Lann leaned in, close to Gallagher's ear, and cupped a hand around his mouth and whispered, "Hey, guess what? If you go get some candles for us, I promise you'll get a kiss from the wonderful ladies here."

Gallagher stirred.

"You see, without candles, we can't see. If we can't see, things will be thrown into utter chaos. You know how squeemish these girls can be. Even Fiona doesn't like the dark." Lann continued, grinning. This was gold. "If you get candles, they'll praise you for your bravery and smother you with kisses. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky."

Gallagher's eyes flickered open. He quickly jumped to his feet, grabbed his cloak, and walked to the door in a hurry.  
>"Where are you going?" Marrec asked.<p>

Gallagher chuckled at him. "Where? I'm going to get candles so I can get what I deserve after all of these years." With that, he threw up his hood and opened the door and left.

"What was that about?" Evie asked Lann, who was grinning like mad.

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

Fiona gave him a suspicious look. "What did you tell him?" she asked slowly.

Lann looked away. "Nothing."

Evie looked at Ceara and giggled. "You can always tell when Lann is lying." she said as Lann flushed. "His pokerface is horrible."  
>"That's how he lost yesterday's game." Marrec said casually. "Lucky Reilly. I heard he spent most of his winnings on slingshots some mercs brought back from Hoarfrost Hollow."<p>

Lann felt numb at hearing what his one-hundred thousand gold coins was spent on, and he couldn't imagine how many slingshots that old man could possibly want. Everyone knew that Reilly the Magician wanted quite a few slingshots, but to spend one-hundred thousand? How many slingshots would that bring in?

Karok's words pulled his subconscious away from the depressing thoughts, and he tuned in to listen. "If anything, that Gallagher probably went to slack off without us in the way. Hammering isn't something you'd want to hear when you're sleeping."

Lann wondered what would happen when Gallagher comes back to find that there was no such prize. All of a sudden, a cold realization struck him deep in his heart. Not only would Gallagher kill him, but Fiona, Evie, and Ceara would kill him too.

What hell have I unleashed? Lann thought, concerned about his well being. This time, not even Fiona would help him out here. If he did anything idiotic on his own accord, she would scold and chide him rather than help him. Or worse; the next day he'd have an ugly hammer mark on his face.

But then again, he'd also have frostbite from Evie's ice blast, or at least a third degree burn.

And who knows what Ceara could do.

"What's wrong Lann? You look as if you've seen a ghost." Ceara remarked from the other side of the room.

"I think he just realized he's done something stupid and is trying to think of a way to escape." Karok said knowingly.

Lann shot Karok a look of betrayal. Sometimes, it was a disadvantage to have a friend who knew you so well.

"Oh well." Evie said. "Whatever it is, if it has something to do with me, I promise I'll go easy on you Lann." She smiled sweetly at him. "Although I can't guarantee anything if it had anything to do with Fiona. Isn't that right?"

Fiona cast a somewhat sly and yet warning look at Lann. "She's right. I can't guarantee anything. And, well...it's been a whole day since I've swung my hammer. My sword is away for repairs, but if anything fishy comes along, I'd like a chance to swing."

"You know how Gallagher is with fish, right?" Marrec said to Fiona. "He reeks of it. A swing from you won't hurt. He could learn how to behave."

Fiona fingered the pommel of her longhammer. She may be slower than Lann at swinging, but each swing was, and Lann hated to admit it, stronger than his own. In duels, when he would rest for even a second after a long spin, he would find himself underneath her hammer, and it hurt. He was lucky to not be under it after three charges in her 'Stigma' attack.

A loud pounding came from the door of the outpost and a muffled voice called from outside. Gallagher. Lann shifted his weight from one foot to another. The bolts that held the door in place seemed to loosen out of their respective places with each violent pound.  
>Karok hurried to answer the door. As the door, beaten until it nearly split, swung open, the womanizer barged in with a bundle of candles in his arms. "Alright!" he exclaimed, walking in an arrogant manner to the table where Evie and Fiona were. Lann saw a look of tension on Fiona's face. She lived here long enough to know the arrogant swag Gallagher swaggered.<p>

"Candles are here." he said in a boastful tone. He leaned on the table, grinning. "So, everything's going to be okay."  
>Evie took the bag of white wax candles. All were new; none of them had been used before. As she dried them off with a towel, Ceara said, "Why so many candles?"<p>

Gallagher coolly answered, "Ah, what can I say? I know how you girls are. You're very welcome."

Evie stopped and stared at him, her mouth somewhat agape in shock at what he had said. "What do you mean?" Ceara asked slowly.  
>Marrec and Karok exchanged looks. Marrec sighed and called out, "Cut it out Gallagher. Help light them."<p>

Gallagher didn't move. Marrec started down the ladder, but Ceara stopped him with a hand. "Hold on." she said to Marrec. Then she turned to Gallagher. "I have to admit, some people are like that, but I assure you that we need candles for our convienience and not because of fear. Please help light them."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." Gallagher leaned in, his face a foot away from Evie and Fiona. The two stepped back in discomfort.  
>Lann started to wonder if escaping was still a possible option. He had just caught a look of realization on Fiona and he knew that he was walking in her territory if he lingered. Casually, he walked to the corner of the room, by the door. He pretended to examine the wall as the conversation behind him continued on.<p>

Something must have happened, because Evie screamed and a loud smack ordered dead silence afterwards. Lann spun around, alarmed at Evie's scream. Gallagher looked red and furious. Evie looked ready to pounce if it were not for Karok and Ceara to hold her back (Karok could have handled Evie's flailing but Ceara had grabbed a hold of Evie's staff).

Marrec was walking over to Gallagher, prepared to scold him, and Fiona, who stood off to the side, glanced over at Lann.

She calmly walked over to him. Sometimes, Fiona's expressionless face when she was about to do justice was absolutely terrifying.  
>"Lann," she said quietly.<p>

Goddess, if something intervenes right now, I'll be so happy that I'll kill twice as many Fomors the next chance I get. Lann thought quickly. "Yes, Fiona?"

Fiona cocked her head and looked back at the others. "You told Gallagher that Evie would kiss him if he brought back candles, right?"  
>Lann didn't dare mention that she, too, had to kiss Gallagher along with Ceara. He nodded his head, shrugging afterwards. "Didn't think it would hurt."<p>

Fiona held her head. "What to do with you." she murmured. "To think that you're a grown man."

Lann stared blankly at her. "Was that a joke? You told a joke. That was a joke!"

Fiona eyed him wearily. "I'm not sure to be offended by the surprise reaction or not."

Lann frowned. "Who are you and what have you done to Fiona? Just kidding! Kidding!" he added quickly when Fiona sent him a death glare.

Before Fiona could say anything more, the poor door swung open and two people entered, one carrying the other. Rainwater from the two splashed onto the floor and Lann went to shut the door before the rain flooded the place.

"Captain Aodhan!" Ceara gasped.

Captain Aodhan grunted in response and carried a heavily bleeding figure to the next room. "Evie! Follow!" he barked, his voice strained.  
>As Evie received her staff from Ceara, Marrec poked his head into the next room and muttered something to the captain. After a few seconds, he was satisfied with what the captain had said and stepped aside for the mage to enter the room.<p>

"Who was that?" Ceara asked. "He wasn't a mercenary. I hope he isn't an innocent victim in an attack."

Marrec folded his arms and said, "Nope. The guy ain't a merc. He has some fighting skills though. Wields a bow. Quite a sharpshooter. Captain said the guy fended himself for a good few minutes before the distance between him and some Fomors were too close and they overwhelmed him."

"The Fomors?" Lann said at once. "Where? Close to here?"

Marrec frowned. "I'm not sure. Captain didn't say and the weather is hell. We can't send off mercs willy nilly. You think we'd endanger our comrades like that?"

"Oh come on, Marrec." Lann said. "What's a little rain?"

Fiona raised an eyebrow and opened the door. Rain attacked the wooden floor and a fierce wind pierced their skin. Lightning danced for a split second and thunder followed. The rain fell harder.

She closed the door with a little difficulty, due to the changing moods of the wind. Lann was met with several 'you-see-what-we-mean' looks from everyone, even Gallagher who had forgotten Lann's little con.

"I've seen worse." he replied.

"Then you go out there." Marrec said.

Lann scoffed. "I accept that challenge." He looked up to the ceiling. "Goddess, I pray you watch over me and please, try not to hit me with a bolt of lightning. And try not to ruin my armor. I hate it when my armor rust, and you know I lost some money after yesterday's poker game."

"It's because of your pokerface." Ceara noted.

"And Goddess, please make Ceara over there be quiet. Please, and thank you very much."

Lann slipped his cloak on, checked his two trusty swords, bid farewell to everyone in the room, and left the outpost.


	3. Rusted Armor and a New Teammate

Lann returned an hour later, soaked and drenched with rainwater and blood. Whose blood it was, Lann had no idea. He didn't get wounded too badly; perhaps a scratch here and there, but other than that he was perfectly fine.

"There." he said to the others when he returned. Thunder clapped outside and the room trembled a little. "You see? I can really do it."

"There was no doubt at all," Ceara said earnestly. "Honest."

"Of course not!" Lann laughed. "No, I'm joking. I was actually a little worried."

Lann moved awkwardly to the nearest chair and slowly sat down in it as if he was an old man with back problems. Fiona watched him before she asked, "Rusted armor?"

It was difficult to move when your armor was rusted. It made movements gritty and moving bad metal together made a horrible high pitche squeal that would kill ear drums. Lann's armor squeaked in response to Fiona.

Evie and Ceara laughed and Fiona and Mrrec came forward to help Lann out of his rusty cocoon. "Thanks guys." Lann said as Fiona eased off his shoulder plates and Marrec sliding off his greaves. "I was sticky in there."

Fiona gave Lann a slightly bemused look. "There's no need to know that."

"But it's true!" Lann exclaimed. "Blood and water somehow seeped into my armor and it dried up in there. Mind you, I'm not sure how that happened because it was pouring out there." Another roar of the thunder verified Lann's claim. "And then my armor rusted and slowed me down. And I'm telling you it was not pleasant."

The side door opened and everyone glanced up. The man that had been carried in swept the room with his dark eyes and then he addressed Marrec. "Where is the captain?"

Marrec shook his head as he tossed Lann's greaves aside (to which Lann exclaimed in alarm; he spent good money on those). "The captain left a few minutes ago. What is it? Do you need something?"

The man looked unsure. "I'll...ask again tomorrow." The man glanced at Lann for a moment and then at the others. He nodded, as if bidding them good bye (even though he was only going to retreat back into the room) and slipped out of their view before closing the door quietly.

Evie broke the silence that followed. "He's cute."

Ceara burst out laughing and Fiona gave Evie a small smile.

"Meh, he's okay." Lann huffed, crossing his arms. "I've seen better."

"What, are you checking out the guys too?" Gallagher scoffed from his chair. Then he pointed a filthy finger at Lann and added gruffly, "Boy, you better be lucky I let you off the hook today but next time, don't be so sure."

Evie and Ceara turned on Lann and gave them a dangerous look. "Not only Gallagher will beat you, but we will too." Evie said evilly, cracking her knuckles.

"Oh come off it you two." Marrec said, laughing. Lann shot him a look and Marrec added, "Oh you too. You should have known you wouldn't have goten away with it."

"You're saying that I can't get away with anything?"

"Marrec," Fiona said harshly. "Don't encourage him to-"

Lann turned around and gave Fiona an exasperated look. "You don't think I can either?"

Fiona pressed her lips together firmly. "I never said that."

"It's implied, isn't it?"

Fiona gave him a light whack on the head with her hand. "Stop putting words into my mouth." she scolded. Sighing, she murmured, "Lower your voice and keep still so we can get that breastplate off of you. Arms up."

Lann refused to move.

"Lann, raise your arms." Marrec said.

Lann sighed and did so. Marrec and Fiona eased Lann's beastplate off of him and Lann reddened when Evie, Ceara, and Karok laughed. Gallagher was smirking in the corner. Lann felt like a young un again; it was absolutely downright embarrassing and it was not fit for a mighty warrior to have two people help him undress after a hard, victorious battle in the thundering dead of night.

Nope, he didn't look like a mighty warrior; more like a child squirming uncomfortably during math lessons. Og Goddess how Lann hated math lessons. He never really got the concept of multiplying fractions, even though Fiona and Evie had told him how to do it multipple times.

Well, actually, Fiona only taught him twice before she gave up. Evie kept at it for a while but she too gave in and Lann never really learned how to multiply fractions. Who needs to do that anyway?

With the last of his heavy armor off, Lann could finally relax. Stretching his arms, Lann said, "So what's the man's name, Marrec? Ever figured it out?"

"His name's Kai." Marrec said in a business like tone. "I'm not sure where he hails from yet but we may never know. Some people here won't tell us their story." He shot a glance at Fiona, Evie, and Karok.

Now that Lann thought about it, he never really knew what life was like for his friends before the Crimson Blades. He tried asking about it once but Fiona wouldn't say anything (she'd give him a pensive look before turning away), Evie kept on changing the subject (her past might have been better than Fiona's because everytime she changed subjects she'd smile a little), and even his bestest friend Karok didn't say much about himself (he'd just shake his head and keep quiet!

And damn it, Lann wanted to know if there are other giants like him!

"He looks like he'd be a good add to the mercenary, don't you think?" Marrec asked no one in particular.

Gallagher snorted. "Meh, I've seen better."

"Like me?" Lann asked.

Gallagher bursted out laughing. "Don't push it rookie."

Even though Lann wasn't a rookie, the nickname stuck to him and he enjoyed being called 'rookie' because no other rookie would keep that name and the veterans had the chance to be called that and yet they weren't. It made Lann feel extra special.

Sure it caused a couple of confusing scenes; the new ones were always called rookie when Lann was around them and someone called out 'rookie', there was bound to be a small argument on which 'rookie' the person called.

"I think he might join." Ceara said thoughtfully. "He said he wanted to see the captain. Maybe he trusts him more than us because Captain Aodhan saved him."

And sure enough, Kai joined.

When Captaing Aodhan returned, Marrec told him that Kai wanted to see him. When Aodhan emerged back out from the sideroom where Kai was residing in, he announced that Kai was going to join the Crimson Blade Mercenaries, much to Evie's delight.

"What?" she asked when everyone stared at her. "You have to get excited whenever a new mercenary enlists."

Much to Lann's annoyance, Kai was placed in his team in hopes that they could help him fight better. The only reason why it annoyed Lann was because with Kai in the team, it would unbalance everything. And besides, the bonds that he shared with his friends were theirs and theirs only.

"We were all once new Lann." Karok said wisely. "You accepted us just fine."

"Well her because she's strong." Lann said, pointing to Fiona. While Fiona scolded him for pointing (it was rude), Lann pointed to Evie and said, "Her because she has magic." Then he pointed to Karok. "And you because well, you're a giant!"

"Is that it?" Evie asked wearily, slapping Lann's arm down.

"No." Lann said quietly. "You three are my best friends and I don't want to share." He added that last part in a small pout.

Evie and Karok laughed while Fiona sighed. "Aw, Lann, how adorable!" Evie grinned. With one arm, she pulled Lann and Karok in and with the other, she pulled Fiona in. "Group hug!"

"How cute." Ceara laughed. "It's good to see such happiness in a time like this. But they're right Lann. They were all once new and you accepted them. I'm sure you can accept Kai."

Lann sighed. "I'll give the guy a chance, okay? But if I'm not satisfied with his teamwork, then I'm assigning him to another group."

"You don't have the authority to assign anyone anywhere." Marrec said pointedly.

"Oh yeah?"

Marrec tried to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "Yeah."

Lann clicked his tongue and murmured, "Killjoy."

Fiona heard him and she lightly smacked his forehead. "I don't know what to do with you." she sighed as Lann rubbed his forehead tenderly.


	4. Colhen and the New Mercenary

"Alright Kai, the first thing you need to know is that I'm the leader. There is no challenging the leader's decisions whatsoever." Lann said to Kai the next day. He, Kai, and the others were standing in a group right outside the inn, preparing to give him a tour of the place. The day was somewhat chilly but the rain had gone away sometime in the middle of the night, leaving a misty sensation over Colhen.

"Lann, we're showing the man around Colhen. We're not in battle yet." Evie chided him, shifting her weight to her other foot.

"Yeah, but I'm just laying down the ground rules, you know? Hear me out first, and then we can go visit Tieve and everyone else."

As Evie rolled her eyes playfully, Lann continued. "That's Evie. She says a lot of things you don't have to concern yourself about so you can technically ignore her most of the time-" Lann jumped out of the way of one of Evie's flashy magic arrow. He pointed a finger at her with a warning look. "Oi, no attacking comrades!"

Fiona brought his arm down and scolded, "No pointing."

"Why? It doesn't do any harm." Lann muttered, shaking her grip off. He cleared his throat. "That's Fiona. She's our tank. So don't try to die for the team. That's her job and she's good at it-"

Lann choked as Fiona grabbed his collar. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked threateningly.

"Nothing, nothing." Lann coughed. "I mean, you never really die. She has a shield so it's all good and if she does die, we can revive her in time with a feather so we won't really lose her..."

Fiona released him with a warning and Lann massaged his throat. "Anyway, and that man over there is Karok. He's a beast, quite literally. Stay away from his pillar and Cetus and you'll be fine, okay?"

"Hey, how come he gets a proper introduction?" Evie asked Lann.

"Because I say so."

"Who made you boss?"

Lann raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I found this team."

"What about Fiona?" Karok asked.

"Whose side are you on?"

Karok chuckled but said nothing. But Evie picked it up and said, "Yeah, what about Fiona? She also found the team and mind you I rather follow her than you. You keep on dying! You're not good at her job you know."

Lann gave Evie and Karok a mock look of betrayal. They often joked about Lann's leadership, and Lann didn't mind it. Well, until it made him seem like a bad leader in front of Kai. But even if his reputation was on the line, he couldn't help but give them the silly, exasperated look.

"Well pardon me for keeping everyone together." he said sarcastically. He bowed and made a gesture towards Fiona. "She's your new leader now everyone. I nobly step down as leader."

"Aren't we supposed to go to Tieve?" Fiona asked wearily, but she had the tiniest trace of amusement on her face.

Lann straightened up and waved his hand to the inn for Kai, who was watching them all with indifference, something that Fiona usually had. While Lann wondered what it would be like with 'two Fionas', Evie said, "The inn is where all the mercs reside in. It may look small but it's capable of housing us. And everyone is always overseas somewhere else during the night anyway so it doesn't matter."

"That's where we eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sometimes Tieve makes everyone snacks and candies to eat." Karok added, opening the door to the inn. He beckoned for them to enter, and the other three let Kai go in first so he could get the full blast of warmth and kindness one would perceive when first stepping foot inside the inn.

"Oh, hello everyone." Tieve said from the table near the back. She hastily place a pot down on the table and wiped her hands on a towel before greeting them. Her eyes fell on Kai and she smiled warmly at him, holding out her hand. "You must be Kai, the new merc. I'm Tieve."

Kai nodded at her as they shook hands. Tieve laughed lightly. "Not much of a talker, are you? Are you hungry? If you wait for a few minutes, I can get some soup for you."

"Maybe another time Tieve. We're marching across Colhen to introduce him to everyone." Lann said, leaning back on the wall. "Where's your grandpa, Tieve?"

"He's upstairs, moving old furniture to the attic." Tieve said.

Lann perked. "Wait, there's an attic?"

Tieve laughed and nodded.

As Lann stared at the ceiling, already making plans on venturing to the attic to see if there was anything interesting, Karok said, "We'll come back soon so Kai can meet him. Right now we're off to see Ferghus and Shayla."

Tieve nodded and gave Kai another warm smile. "Well it was nice to meet you. You're in good hands; they're well known around Colhen. They're amazing mercenaries. Very reliable."

"Most of us are, anyway. Right, Lann?" Evie said, sending Lann a sly look.

Lann's head snapped down to look at Evie blankly. "Wait, I heard my name. What did you say?"

"Oh you're mistaken. I didn't say your name at all." Evie said innocently.

Lann blinked at her. His eyes flickered to Karok and send a telepathic message to him, inquiring what had happened. Karok only shrugged and looked away with a small knowing smile.

The forge was a short walk away from the inn. In fact, every building was a short walk from the inn and each other so it didn't really matter. They all liked the convenient distance between buildings, especially if they were in a hurry.

The forge greeted them with a wave of intense heat, one that was uncomfortable compared to the inn's warmth. Kai's face contorted a little at the sudden temperature change but Lann patted his back and said, "Ah, suck it up. It's not bad once you get used to it."

"You're rough with him." Karok said casually.

"Hey, gotta be tough or they become complete wusses." Lann reasoned.

Ferghus looked up as they approached his anvil tentatively, not wanting to get too close to the glowing, intensely hot sword he was working on. Especially when he straightened up his posture and waved the sword-in-progress in greeting. "Good to see you fellows. New face, eh?" He inspected Kai's face for a while and laughed. "Looks promising."

"Yeah, um...do you think you can put that sword down?" Evie asked, pointing to the sword that Ferghus was still waving around.

Ferghus carefully placed it down on the anvil and laid his hammer on the table next to him. Snatching a ragged towel from the table to clean the sweat from his forehead, Ferghus asked, "So what can I do for ya?"

"Nothing really. Just showing him around." Lann said, cocking his head towards Kai. "Where's Shayla?"

Ferghus jerked a thumb towards the back. "Back there. Probably doing some sort of business with mercenaries and her clients. You know how she is."

Lann and Karok exchanged weary expressions. They had once gone to retrieve a single flower from the Perilous Ruins for her and they weren't expecting to run into werewolves. Fiona and Evie, who were off doing some other things, had to nurse them back to health by the time they stepped off of their boat from the battle.

Was it worth it? Well, maybe. But that wasn't the only time Shayla had asked them to do something. In fact, Lann was sure that he had to retrieve something for her again. He had forgotten what, and he was meaning to ask what he needed to get but it slipped his mind.

Shayla was sending off a mercenary away for some sort of gem or jewel thing, whichever it was. Her eyes darted from the mercenary to them, and then she sought out Lann with a smile. "Did you get it at last?"

Lann scratched the back of his head. "Funny story. I forgot to write down what I needed to do and-"

"You _forgot_?" Shayla fumed.

Lann winced. "Hey, hear me out. I got things to do-"

"And _that_ was something to do. Honestly, I had to keep my client waiting another _two_ weeks so you would have time to get it but _no_, you waste it on _other_ things." Shayla's nostrils flared and her eyes pierced Lann's own.

"Don't blame me." Lann retorted. "Blame the people who gave me tasks to do. Seriously, I have like twenty or so things-"

"Thirty." Evie and Karok corrected.

"Thirt- how do you know?" Lann sent an accusing look to them. "Did you read my journal?"

"Hey. It's your fault for leaving it out." Evie shrugged. "I mean, lock it up somewhere. Don't leave it on your bed."

Lann stared at her. "How did you get into my room?" Then he caught Karok adverting his eyes with amusement. "_So it was YOU_!" Lann accused, pointing a merciless finger at his supposedly best friend's direction. "You're the one who broke my door two weeks ago! And Evie said it was a wild dog."

Evie rolled her eyes. "Oh come on! It's your fault that you fell for it. How can a wild dog get into the inn that houses a bunch of mercs, Lann?"

Before Lann could retort back, Fiona cleared her throat. "I believe we really must go, Shayla. I apologize on Lann's behalf and we'll make sure he'll get whatever it is you need within a week. Let's go everybody."

Even though Lann still didn't know what he needed to get for Shayla, Fiona had already ushered everyone out of the forge. Lann didn't think that he'd ever figure it out, but with a look at Fiona (who shot Lann a weary look), he had a feeling he better remember soon.

They went to visit the general store next, to which Clodagh greeted them excitedly like she always did. While she and Evie shared hugs, Clodagh's eyes fell on Kai and she faltered a little. "Who is this?" she asked, smiling weakly at Kai.

Evie raised an eyebrow at her, to which Clodagh leaned in and whispered, "He looks scary."

Laughing, Evie said, "This is Kai. He's a new merc and we're showing him around. Say 'hi', Kai." Evie said, grinning at the archer.

Kai merely waved at Clodagh.

"He's a silent type." Evie explained.

Aislinn and Fenella, who were watching from behind the counter, welcomed them with warm smiles. Aislinn began to offer Kai strawberry brandy but Lann stopped her and said that they didn't want to get the new mercenary drunk on his first day (the day before didn't count).

Reilly the magician wasn't in the store when they visited like he always was, but that didn't bother any of them. Surely, he would be at the magic laboratory messing with Brynn.

Sure enough, he was.

Lann noticed Kai's nearly dumbfound expression as he watched an old man dance around a younger one with a stick in hand, singing and chanting in gibberish. "Master, I don't want to be a fairy spirit." Brynn was saying wearily to Reilly. "Now please, I have a lot of work to do."

Reilly stopped his hopping for a while, staring at Brynn. Then he stuck out his tongue and said, "You're a mean fairy spirit. Maybe you're a witch. A witch, a witch!" And he began to start his dancing again.

Brynn sighed again, clutching his research papers to his chest in fear of Reilly accidentally catching them on fire, however they may catch on fire by a mere wood stick. Brynn's eyes flickered to a darkened corner of the lab towards Nyle, a hooded man. Nyle didn't do anything at all; he merely watched.

"Well thank you for helping me out." Brynn muttered to Nyle. Then he glanced towards the door at the mercenaries and adverted his eyes at once. Coughing uncomfortably, he said, "What can I do for you?"

"It seems like you need help." Karok mused.

"Yes, quite." Brynn murmured. "Stop waving that around, master. You'll knock something over."

"Witch, a witch!" Reilly screeched with laughter. "A witch shouldn't be worried about papers when it should be flying on brooms and turning fair maidens into ugly old hags!"

"You know..." Lann said loudly in order to be heard over Reilly. "I always knew Reilly was a mad genius but I think he's just mad now."

Reilly heard Lann and stopped dancing, giving him a weird look. Then his eyes fell upon Kai and his face brightened. "An _archer_!" he gasped, dropping his stick. As the stick clattered on the wooden floor by Brynn's feet, Reilly dashed forward in a surprising speed for his age and prodded Kai's quiver. The arrows in his quiver ratted against each other and Reilly's eyes widened. "Can I play with them? Please? Please?"

"Brynn, Reilly...this is Kai." Fiona said loudly. "And no, you may not play with them."

Reilly ignored Fiona and continued to pester Kai about the arrows. Kai stared at Reilly for a moment and then at Fiona, completely lost.

"You know, Reilly." Evie said to him, tapping him on the shoulder. "I heard Aislinn has some strawberry brand-"

That got him.

"Brandy? Waiting for me at the store?" Reilly turned towards the door in surprise. "Excuse me everyone, but I really must get going. Brynn, continue your research and don't slack off."

Reilly swept the room carefully and nodded at his student before he left as if nothing happened.

Lann had to bite his tongue to prevent bursting out with laughter at Kai's expression. "You get used to the guy." Lann grinned.

Brynn coughed again and laid out his papers on the table. "Thank you for getting rid of him."

"No problem. So, anyway." Evie said as she peered into the test tubes over the burners. "Don't worry, Kai. Reilly's a true child at heart. He's not usually that hyper though. What, did he get candy or something?"

"Yes." Brynn sniffed. "Some mercenaries dropped by from their visit in Rocheste and brought him some candies and, well...you know the rest." he sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair.

After some tea that Brynn insisted they have, they went to visit Kirstie at the traveler's shop. Kai took an extreme insterest there, but maybe it was because both he and Kirstie used bows. Well, that's what they assumed. Most hunters and huntresses used bows to hunt game.

As Kai inspected the furs hanging from the wall, Kirstie and the four watched him. "So, this was the man Aodhan carried in yesterday night during the storm, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the one." Karok confirmed.

Kirstie grinned at them. "Well, if he's put on your team, he's bound to be a good mercenary. I mean, yes, there are several great mercenaries other than you four, but you guys are...special."

"Of course we are." Lann chuckled. "I founded this great team and only accepted the best."

"Lann, you handed the ownership to Fiona, remember?" Evie reminded him. "And you didn't accept the best at first, Lann. We all were rookies when we were on your team. We used to suck!"

"Okay, first of all, I was kidding when I said I stepped down as leader." Lann said. "And second of all, I knew that you guys would be awesome. I can tell the future."

"Oh?" Karok cocked an eyebrow up. "Will we get to Erinn?"

Lann gave him a thumbs up. "Of course. After all of those Fomors we went through, we're bound to be."

"Will we win the war?" Fiona asked.

"You're joining in too? Okay, no problem. Of course we will." Lann said.

"Who are you going to marry?" Evie asked.

"A woman. Next."

"Will Kai overpower you?" Kirstie asked.

Lann opened his mouth to answer but then stopped. "Uh, no. Why on earth do you think that?"

"Oh, nothing." Kirstie smirked, and she shared a silent laugh between Evie and Karok.

They left the traveler's shop and skipped the outpost, because Kai had already been in there. They returned to the inn to meet Ernmass, who greeted Kai warmly.

After meeting him and snuffing down a platter of Tieve's pancakes, Lann held a finger up to Kai. "Alright, so now you've met the denizens of Colhen. Everyone else, eh, they're mercs. You'll always run into them. But there's too many of them to introduce you to them so we're just gonna go and head on to your training site. Normally you'll go to the training site at the Perilous Ruins. HOWEVER." Lann straightened his posture and said with a breath of authority, "That place is roped off for now. We need to train you elsewhere."

Fiona and Evie exchanged glances and Karok sighed heavily. "Lann, it isn't roped off. Aodhan said specifically to take him there and-" Karok started.

"Yeah? Well change of plans. I'm leader and I will train you where I want."

"Lann..." Fiona said in a warning tone.

"You're going to be killed by Aodhan when he finds out you're taking him somewhere else." Evie finished for Fiona.

"I'm not taking him somewhere else. We're still going to the Perilous Ruins. Just a different section." Lann said defensively. "Now, let's go. And besides, what's the worst that can happen?"


	5. Ruins and Memories

The boat ride to the Perilous Ruins was a little tense, due to the fact that Fiona, Evie, and Karok were giving Lann an accusing look the whole ride. It was the girls that gave him sharp looks, but their piercing glares didn't affect Lann. He had grown accustomed to them, especially whenever he would die on them when they needed his help.

It was Karok's disappointed look that hit him the worst. Seeing his best friend like that, it made Lann wonder if he was really going to be jealous over a new mercenary, a rookie.

Okay, so maybe he was slightly more reckless and maybe, just maybe, he could call himself a jerk to Kai. Somewhat guilty, Lann glanced over at the new mercenary with the intentions of apologizing but changed his mind right away after he saw him with the others gathered around a burning campfire as if the four had been friends forever.

Evie was telling some wild, fantasy based story, making several hand motions for emphasis. Every once in a while, Fiona would interrupt to thoroughly explain a part that Evie exaggerated or to give background information. Karok would add in on the story every once in a while when Evie missed a detail.

They never invited Lann to the fire.

It irked him to see Kai listen silently to their stories and it annoyed Lann even more that they seemed like they've forgotten about him.

When the finally reached the ruins, Lann led the reluctant group to the normal entrance rather than the entrance that would take them to the training site. "If he's so good, he can take it without training, isn't that right?" Lann asked Kai, shooting a glance behind his shoulder.

Kai met Lann's glance for a brief moment before he adverted his eyes back to the path ahead. "Do whatever you like," Kai said.

Lann raised an eyebrow at the archer. "It's been a while since you've talked. I've forgotten what you sounded like."

"Hmm," Kai reached behind him and grabbed an arrow and nocked it.

Fiona hurried her pace to catch up with Lann and leaned towards him as they walked. "Are you really going on with this plan of yours?" she asked under her breath.

"What plan?" Lann asked, trying to sound innocent but his tone came out a little rough.

"What plan indeed?" Fiona repeated, unimpressed. "At least tell me what fomor we'd be dealing with at the end of this run."

"I haven't decided yet,"

"So you _do_ have a plan, if you have decided something beforehand."

"How do you know I haven't?"

"Well," Fiona huffed, "for one, you're not taking him to the training site. And for two, you seem to walk like you know where we're going. If you didn't know what to do, you'd slowly pace around like you always do whenever you lose the map."

Occasionally, whenever Lann was in charge of holding the map and leading the way, he would lose the map during a fight or the wind would blow it out of his recklessly slackened fingers.

Once, the map burned up when he stood too close to a fire in Ainle. Karok and Evie never let him live that incident down, especially since they were new to Ainle and that they weren't even supposed to be there in the first place.

Lann gave Fiona a bemused look. "This is the Perilous Ruins, Fiona. The monsters around here aren't so dangerous compared to the ones we've fought against. For Goddess's sake, woman, we fought a giant polar bear that doesn't know how to die the first time around, a walking skeleton-vampire thing that stabs and throws fireballs, gigantic spiders that would squish us alive if we didn't have armor, and dragons with the other teams' help. Even with their help it takes an hour or so to take that beast. You don't think we'd have Kai's back covered here?"

"That's not the point," she said, "The point is that Captain Aodhan gave us an _order_-"

"I like to call it a 'suggestion'-"

"He personally wanted us to take him to the training site-"

"All four of us to accompany one rookie?" Lann asked, giving Fiona a daring look. "If he truly wanted us to take him to the training site, he'd hand Kai over to you, Fiona. You're the one Captain Aodhan trusts since the rest of us goof off sometimes. Besides, what he doesn't know won't hurt."

Fiona's eyes narrowed. Lann knew he pushed the line _way_ back when they started the conversation and he had instantly regretted opening his mouth. The only reason he continued the argument was because it had already started and there was no way he was going to let Kai see that Fiona could easily silence him. There was no authority in him if he allowed the archer to see that Fiona had more control than him.

"What's with the sudden change of look?" Fiona asked quietly, her tone softening.

Lann blinked at her. "What?"

Fiona stared at him. Then she glanced back at the others,w ho were watching curiously save for Kai, who merely stared at the ground before him. "I'm going to talk to Lann privately," Fiona announced to the group.

She took his arm and literally dragged him away to a secluded space, far enough from the others that they could not eavesdrop but not too far that they could not find them if trouble arose.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, crossing her arms as she gave Lann a weary look. "You were arguing so heatedly before but then you look pained."

Lann sniffed. "It must be your eyes, Fiona. I do not have that kind of look whenever nothing is attacking me."

Fiona's expression didn't change. She didn't believe him.

It had been years since they first met each other and ever since then, Lann liked to consider themselves the founders of their little team. He trusted her, like everyone else did, but there was a more personal trust with her. Fiona was not the kind of person who would blab secrets to other mercenaries, nor was the the kind of person to judge without careful consideration. And somehow, Lann felt it would do him justice to explain his actions to her, for she would understand and possibly help him overcome his intense jealousy over how the new rookie practically fit in the team with ease.

_I mean, come on! This team of ours is one of the elite! How can he just prance right in without my consent? _Lann thought bitterly. Then he stopped himself and covered his face with his hands.

"Something's definitely troubling you," Fiona said quietly.

Lann looked up at her and was surprise to see her sit down on the ground, crossed-legged, patting the spot in front of her.

Sitting down, Lann stared at her, trying to read her face but he learned of nothing. So he listened to what she had to say, for what else could he do?

Fiona had spent a few seconds examining his own face but unlike him, she was good at it and read his expression like it was in plain sight. "Lann, you're going to learn how to control your jealousy over Kai," she said calmly. "You are a well known mercenary. The Royal Army even knows of you. What will people think if they know you were envious over a man, who has barely started his training? No one will replace you, you know that. And if you know that you know that, then act like it's true.

"Who cares if the team gets bigger? Doesn't that mean that there will be more memories? Memories that we can share and cherish because in this world, we cannot take anything for granted. Life is fragile, and what if it's too late to revive with a feather? What if Evie's magic cannot save one of us and any of the other mercenaries from the other teams? Are they not our friends as well? In this war for Erinn, or whatever we're fighting for, shouldn't we hold onto the memories that we hold dear to our hearts? If we don't, then what do we have left? We're only left with each other and no one in the world can replace anyone. We will never replace you and we never plan on it."

Silence. Fiona took a deep breath and studied Lann's expression again.

Lann felt comfort in her words, but he was still somewhat troubled. "If we do happen to lose each other, then what happens?" he asked quietly.

Fiona's face rarely softened to the point where she looked vulnerable, but for some reason, she allowed most of the tension from her face fade. Sighing heavily, she said, "Then we hold onto those memories even more."

The two returned to the group and Lann thought he would have a change of heart and was prepared to embrace Kai into the group.

But Lann was a stubborn young man and when he said he wanted to take someone somewhere, his honor was on the line and honor was something important to him.

"Alright, let's continue on then," he said, giving Fiona a nervous look.

However, Fiona merely sighed but after all the years working with her, he knew it was an understanding sigh and not a disappointed one. That was one of the things Lann couldn't stand; disappointing people was the worst, right up there along with shameful incapacitation and cleaning dung out of the horse stables.

Kai caught Lann's eyes warily and Lann attempted to smile at him, which he did so seemingly without effort. Kai nodded at him and that gesture put Lann's uneasiness to rest.

Perhaps an acknowledgment from Kai will be one of those precious memories of his.


	6. Acceptance and Stupidity

Lann watched with the other four as Kai finished the last of the gnolls with a volley of arrows. Alright, so Lann had to admit Kai had serious potential and he maybe he could turn him into an elite warrior like he turned the others. Well, he couldn't really take credit for that, but then again, sometimes it was his ideas (though reckless and sometimes idiotic) that got them into situations where they were forced to toughen up.

And then other times, his ideas sucked and got them all incapacitated once and had to rely on another team to revive them. Oh the humiliation they suffered when they woke up to the somewhat concerned, somewhat snickering faces of the other mercs.

Lann glanced at his team and examined their faces. He skipped Fiona since he knew he wasn't able to read hers and read Evie and Karok's. Evie was impressed and so was Karok, although his expression was more subtle than Evie's.

Kai scanned the area just in case if there were any more gnolls lingering in the corners. When he was certain there were none left, he slipped out of his fighting position and looked over to the group for confirmation if his training was over for the day.

"That was pretty good, but you have to shoot a lot of arrows, huh?" Karok said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

There was a pause and Kai adverted his gaze to scan over the bodies of the gnolls to avoid holding anyone's eyes.

Then Fiona said, "Can you kick, Kai?"

Kai's gaze snapped back and he seemed to consider this silently while he and Fiona stared at each other. Lann, Evie, and Karok glanced between the two and shared a grin. Two Fionas; they could definitely see that.

"I'm a fast learner," Kai said at last.

Fiona nodded curtly. "Alright then. I'll teach you. For those who fight long range, it will be challenging if your enemies get too close, yes?"

Kai nodded.

Fiona glanced over at Evie and said, "Even mages have spells and attacks that can be used at short distances to buy themselves time to get to a further location from their enemy."

Kai nodded again.

Fiona took Kai aside, along with Evie in order to demonstrate how she was able to hold her own even if she was more of a mid to long range fighter with her staff. While the three practiced, Lann and Karok rested in the shades, lounging on the stair steps, watching.

"So, you seem less jealous now," Karok said casually.

Lann raised an eyebrow, eyes still glued on the archer. "What makes you think I was jealous?"

"It's rather obvious, Lann."

Lann sighed. "I'm not jealous."

"Not now, no. Before, yeah."

"Karok?"

"Yeah?"

"You can keep your mouth shut and never talk about this topic ever again."

Karok chuckled and shook his head. Lann was being Lann, as usual.

* * *

><p>After Kai learned his kicks, which were coming along quite nicely, Lann started to lead them to the next room of the dungeon. He and Kai were several steps ahead of the other three and Lann made it so that they continue to be ahead. He needed to talk to Kai privately.<p>

"Listen, Kai, sorry about earlier. I can get moody sometimes. You know what it's like to have something dear to you change?"

Kai looked Lann in the eye and said in a low voice, "Yes. I know the feeling."

Lann hesitated for a second, noticing the sudden intensity of Kai's voice, but the harshness was not directed at Lann. He was sure Kai's harshness was directed at something else.

"Then you would understand why I would prefer for everything to stay the same in my team," Lann said grimly. "However, I'll make an exception to you. I think you'll make a fine addition to the group and well, within time, we'll make you one of the elite mercenaries of Colhen. How does that sound?"

Kai nodded. Lann stole a sideways glance at him and smiled a little. "You really don't talk much, do you?"

Kai raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

Lann sighed. "Oh well. I'll break you out of it someday. Honestly, I can get people talking if I really put my mind to it. Sometimes it's hard, but hey, it's not impossible. Unless if someone ripped your vocal chords out, then it really _would_ be impossible. Of course, you still have your vocal chords so there's nothing to it. Don't you think?"

A nod.

Lann laughed and patted Kai on the back. "I'm starting to like you. Keep it up; you wouldn't want to get on my bad side."

"_Lann._"

Lann glanced back to see Evie raise an eyebrow at him. Lann laughed nervously and coughed into his fist. "Ah, well, just...just keep up the good work."

* * *

><p>There was an intense silence as Fiona, Evie, Karok, and Kai stared at Lann. Lann was too busy staring at the map to notice their weary looks and even if he <em>did<em> notice them, he wouldn't care. Everyone knew that Lann could be directionally challenged, which caused them to worry about him whenever he went to go solo.

Of course, even Lann knew he was directionally challenged, but he was too stubborn to surrender the map to anyone else and besides, he's been to the Perilous Ruins plenty of times. He should know the place inside out.

Or so he thought.

"Okay, so we went here already..." he said to himself.

"Well obviously, Lann," Karok teased him, "we just now got out of there."

"Oh..._ohhhhhh_..." Lann's eyes widened at the realization. "Okay, so now we're here-"

Evie glanced at the map from his side and shook her head. "No, we're heading west. That's east, that was the place we were before that place."

Lann bit his lip and narrowed his eyes, turning the map counterclockwise. "So then-wait... what is _this?_"

Fiona peered at the map from his other side and said bluntly, "That's grease from the chicken you ate last month."

As Evie and Karok's lips twitched in disgust, Lann gave Fiona a bewildered look. "How do you remember all of this?"

"Lann, why do we need to look at the map in the first place? The next area is _right there_." Evie said, pointing.

"Well, there are different places in the ruins," Lann said, scratching his head. "Different places with different kinds of Fomors. We want to run into the good ones."

"Good?" Evie and Fiona repeated blankly.

"Ah, the more powerful ones," Lann corrected himself. "Not good. Fomors aren't good."

"Why do you want to run into the more powerful ones?" Karok asked, although he already knew the answer.

Lann jabbed a thumb in Kai's direction. "So we can see how far he can go."

Fiona and Karok exchanged looks as Evie sighed, slumping her shoulders. "You just don't know how to give up, do you?" she asked.

"Nope," Lann said cheerfully. He returned his gaze to the map, giving it a hard look. "Okay, _now_ I know where I'm going. Come, Kai. Let's go."

Lann started to the next room with Kai on his heel. The other three reluctantly followed them, though they all had a bad feeling that Lann was going to do something unbelievably stupid.

It was a mutual feeling they held and their senses were often correct. However, since they were in a relatively easy environment, they reasoned that nothing too bad would happen. The worst that could happen was that Lann, with his eyes glued to the map, would trip and break his nose.

They were partially correct.

"Lann, that step-" Karok started but Lann's foot already got caught. Lann hissed and toppled towards the ancient wall, leaning on it for support.

"Well, that was emba-" Lann breathed, but his sentence got cut in half by a rumble. Lann grunted as the wall gave away and he fell into the hole he made as the stone arch above him and Kai crumbled.

Alarmed, Kai dove into the hole after Lann, right before a huge chunk of the arch smashed into the ground.

"Lann! Kai!" Evie yelled, dashing towards them but Karok held Evie back and barked at Fiona.

"Get them out of there!" he shouted but there was no need to.

Fiona had rushed past him before he could finish his command. Shield raised, Fiona raced past the falling rocks and towards the hole. She never made it in time and the wall collapsed, sealing the hole.

"Fiona!" Evie yelled, breaking free from Karok, blinking past the post-crumbling pieces.

Fiona turned her head back to Evie before she noticed a shadow above her. Upon instinct, she got down and took shelter underneath her shield but the impact never came.

Evie caught the boulder in time, hovering it mere inches away from Fiona. Evie flung the boulder away and helped Fiona up, brushing away dust from her hair. "You didn't get them in time," she said softly.

Fiona stared at the collapsed wall. "I know," she said solemnly.

"Are you okay?" Karok asked, jogging to the two.

Fiona nodded.

Karok joined their side and the three stared at the mess Lann created. Running a hand through his hair, Karok murmured, "Now what?"

"We...dig them out?" Evie suggested.

Silence. Fiona sighed and threw down her shield as Karok leaned on his pillar in exasperation. "If Lann survived that cave in, I swear, I'll kill him," Karok muttered.


	7. Past and Future

It was dark and dusty, and cramped, now that Lann thought about it. He narrowed his eyes, blinking rapidly in order to get rid of the dryness and the specks of dust. There was no light present and it took a minute or two for his eyes to adjust.

The moment he was able to make sense of the situation, he coughed and spat out small pebbles, attempting to call out. "K-Kai? Are you here? Oi, answer me! Kai!"

Lann silenced himself, waiting for some kind of movement from the rookie. When he heard nothing, he called out again. "If you got knocked out by this cave-in...goddess, and I was starting to expect more out of you, dammit!"

"Be quiet," a voice coughed.

Lann's voice faltered. Squinting his eyes in the direction of Kai's voice, he tried to find the body that matched the voice. When he couldn't locate Kai's body, he whispered, "Where are you? I can't see you."

"Neither can I," Kai said darkly.

Lann ignored the archer's tone and wiggled in his spot. Tucked under several chunks of what used to be a wall, Lann struggled for a moment, trying to free himself from the debris. He managed to shove the dominant piece out of the way but his feet remained trapped.

Sitting up, Lann craned his neck over a boulder that separated himself from Kai, whose head was the only thing visible on the other side. "How'd you get in _that_ position?" Lann asked, bewildered.

Kai's face hardened. "I don't know," he said.

Lann brushed his hand over his hair, clearing off the dust and stray leaves from the few vines that were torn down with the wall. After locating one of his swords, he dug the monstrous blade into the crevice where his feet were stuck and used his weapon as a lever.

"Oh no..." Lann muttered, suddenly stopping the operation.

"What happened?" Kai asked.

Lann heaved a sigh, letting Kai guess what horrible thing might have happened before saying, "Do you know how much money this would cost me to repair my sword? These pairs are expensive and one of them got scratched."

"Is that _it?_" Kai demanded.

Lann snapped, "Well if you know my average income, it's a big deal. Honestly, you would think mercenaries would make quite a bit. Especially a merc like me. Not that I'm braggin' or anything, but as one of the more elite mercs in the entire group, one would think I make tons."

"Then how did you manage to get your hands on such expensive armor and weapons?" Kai asked.

It surprised Lann that Kai had been much more talkative when put in a sticky situation. He expected that Kai would never say anything more than maybe five or six words at a time. This was surely a new record for the new blade.

"I save up money," Lann said, though his voice betrayed his uneasiness.

There was a silence, and when Lann glanced over the boulder again, he saw that Kai was giving him a look of disbelief along with a look that demanded the truth.

"Well...just to let you know, the marketplace...some people are so gullible that you can trick them into buying cheap things at a high price," Lann said defensively. "I'm not cheating them out of money, if that's what you're thinking. I'm merely...using my intelligence to my advantage."

Lann had a feeling that if the others were here, Evie and Karok would have a laugh at Lann's intelligence and maybe even Fiona would roll her eyes. To them, the only intelligence Lann possessed was his battle wits.

Although this was occasionally disprovable.

When Kai said nothing else, Lann gently placed his sword behind him and attempted to free the rest of his feet by hand. In the end, he had uprooted a nail, which was shockingly painful, but his right foot was free. Standing on the right foot, he jerked his other foot out and smiled.

"At last," he breathed. Bring his hand up to inspect his uprooted nail, Lann clicked his tongue and said to Kai, "Imagine what Evie would say to this. Kai, girls have a thing for nails. I'm not sure why, but they do. Well, probably not Fiona. Actually...who knows, she might have a thing for them too..."

Normally, Lann would go hunting for his other sword but he reasoned that if he did that, Kai would have a bone to pick with him. That was the last thing Lann needed at the moment, and so he worked on getting the archer out.

"I'm being serious," Lann said, crouching next to Kai's head. "How the hell do you get trapped like that? Didn't you dive in head first or something? What ever happened to physics?"

If Kai could shrug at the moment, he would. But seeing that he was buried from the neck down in rubble, it was unlikely that he could do anything at all.

"Can you move your arms? Legs?" Lann asked as he tossed away a stone.

"Barely."

"Can you move anything at all?"

"My head."

Lann hesitated. A smile broke out on his face and he said slyly, "Well, well, well, we have another smart aleck here. Ah, I'm liking you better. Can you move anything else other than your head? And anything found on your face doesn't count like your mouth or your tongue. But if you could wiggle your ears, please tell me. That's kinda cool."

Kai heaved a sigh. Whether or not it was an annoyed sigh, Lann couldn't tell. From then on, he decided to keep his mouth closed and continue freeing him.

It didn't take that long, surprisingly. In a minute, Lann had cleared away enough rubble to reveal Kai's torso. From that moment on, Kai was able to climb out of the little pocket his body made in the debris. Because his body was gone from the pocket and that there was no support to hold the rocks in place, the second Kai climbed up next to Lann was the second the rocks started to slide down.

Lann and Kai backed up a little to prevent themselves from falling into the pit. When the room, if they could call it that, was still once more, Lann asked, "You okay?"

Kai nodded.

"You still have your bow and quiver, right?"

Another nod.

Lann raised an eyebrow. "Your quiver..._with_ your arrows?"

Kai threw a look over his shoulder and returned his gaze back to Lann with another curt nod of the head.

"Sheesh, now you're all quiet. I liked you better when you talked," Lann sighed, lying down on the uncomfortably jagged rock pile. "By the way, you haven't seen my other sword, have you?"

"No."

Lann cocked his head a little, staring at the dark, stony ceiling. "Well, at least you said something."

The two scanned the area for Lann's left sword; it was Kai who found it stuck in between several boulders. Lann eagerly freed his beloved blade and set it down next to the right sword, carefully inspecting the twin weapons with an eye of a skilled wielder.

"Which I am," Lann said to Kai after he told his archer friend the comparison.

"Are they okay?" Kai asked, crouching down next to Lann.

Lann's face was unusually grim and serious; he started to resemble Fiona but their expressions weren't as harsh as Kai's. When Lann looked up at the rookie, Kai's frown had intensified, surprising Lann.

"Oi, what's wrong with your face?" Lann asked without hesitating to add in some tact. A second after he said that, he mentally punched himself and added hastily, "I mean, um...you look different."

"Your swords," Kai said, ignoring Lann's remark. "Are they okay?"

Lann gave Kai a strange look before slowly saying, "They're a little banged up but Ferghus can definitely fix it for me at a low price."

"Are you sure you can afford it?"

Lann gave Kai a baffled look. "Are you calling me poor?" he demanded.

Now it was Kai's turn to mentally punch himself. Lann wasn't the only one who had to think before speaking; apparently, Kai also had a tendency to say things without adding tact. They were both sometimes tactless.

"No, I don't mean that," Kai said, his face softening. "If it troubles you, I'll be willing to pay for the repairs."

"But why?" Lann asked. "It wasn't even your fault. Don't get me wrong, I like to take up people's offers, especially if it financially helps me, but I'm wondering why. What benefit do you get out of this?"

Kai had to think about this for a moment. But that was alright to Lann; they had plenty of time. It wasn't like they were thrown into a deadly situation anyway.

"You care for you weapons as if they were alive," Kai said finally. "Your weapons are like your treasures. They're something you value, something important."

Lann was silent for a minute, examining Kai's face. It was unreadable, of course, but Lann caught sympathy from Kia's face. He wondered why.

"Can I tell you something?" Lann asked at last. He could feel his face tense up again, and he knew Kai saw it too.

"Yes."

_Where to start..._Lann thought wearily, but he already knew. The beginning.

"I grew up in a town in the northwest. It wasn't a big city-no, it was far from it. But it was nice. It was one of those towns where everyone knew everyone. Kinda like Colhen, but bigger. How much bigger? Not too much bigger, but bigger," Lann said casually, smiling as he reminisced. He glanced up at Kai to see if Kai would listen to him or not. The archer was watching Lann carefully.

"My father was a blacksmith. He was the town's only blacksmith, actually, so everyone went to him whenever they needed something to protect themselves from Fomors. Sometimes, Fomors would wander into the outskirts of the town, near the fields where some of the people farm, right? Father would supply the farmers with swords and clubs, maces and shields so that they could stand a chance."

Lann chuckled to himself as he stretched out the muscles in his neck. Rolling his shoulders around, he added, "You know what was great about him? His services were free. Yeah, free. Imagine that. How did we survive without an income, I have no idea. I guess the other villagers respected my old man so much that they helped my family survive.

"Anyway, when I was just a kid, like maybe four or five, I started hanging around my father's workplace, watching him craft every blade with utmost care. He worked diligently on everything and he would not stop working on a weapon until he was satisfied. The devotion he had...the passion...I admire him for that," Lann said softly.

There was a small silence, a silence that Kai didn't seem to dare break. Lann was grateful for the silence and, for once, was grateful that Kai didn't ask him anything. It would be too painful to answer questions that Lann wasn't prepared for.

"I spent my childhood learning that all weapons are unique and that, even if they were of the same materials, same model, and made from the same blacksmith, they all have a different feel to it. I'm not sure how to explain it, but not one weapon is exactly the same. Father told me that in order for the weapon to warm up to you, you must take care of it as if they were your own child. They are our tools to survival, and we should count our lucky stars that we have them or else we wouldn't be sitting here, having this little chat, am I right?"

Lann laughed a little, but the laugh faded away. Scratching his head nervously, Lann said, "I never did take him seriously when he told me that though. I was like, what, seven or eight when he told me that. What kind of kid would take his father's words so seriously? But I still took care of the weapons father had allowed me to touch because I couldn't bear to see his face if I accidentally broke one. I couldn't imagine what his expression would be like, so I always took care of them. That habit just stuck with me as I grew older, even after...even after..."

Lann stopped. It surprised him to feel how stony his face felt; he even lifted his fingers to feel around his mouth. He felt a deep frown. Then, he lifted his fingers to trace his eyebrows. They were furrowed in a mix of sorrow and embarrassment.

"Ahaha..." Lann's face loosened and he gave Kai a coy smile. "I shouldn't be sharing my entire life story with you. You're probably bored to death, and as your captain, I won't allow you to die on me, okay? Like, seriously, don't...don't die on me."

Kai gave Lann a nod, and just like that, a terribly heavy sensation lifted from Lann's shoulders. Lann leaned back a little so that he could unfold his legs from underneath him. Stretching them out, he said casually, "You think we can find a way out of this place? Maybe the others are looking for us."

"Maybe."

"It'll be a while, you know. Trust me, on the battlefield, we're a good team. But when it comes to doing chores or something, our teamwork is horrible. Just the other day, we were patching up leaks in the outpost. It was raining heavily and it took us forever. There were leaks everywhere and the candles were...oh wait, that was the night you arrived, was it not?"

Kai nodded.

"Ohhh...well then, the moment you came in, we had already been there for a good hour and a half. And there were still loads of leaks, and we didn't even get to the horse stables yet either," Lann laughed. "See? When it comes to work like that, the team is awfully slow."

Pause. Lann glanced upwards, wondering if Fiona, Evie, and Karok were still digging them out. A few minutes passed in silence and Lann gave up on the others. Surely they'd find them by now, right?

"Hey, Kai?"

"Hm?"

"Tell me your own life story. I told you mine, but you never did tell me yours. What were you doing that night when you first came, anyway? And you mentioned that you wanted to join, right? Why?" Lann asked, directing his gaze back down to Kai.

Kai adverted his eyes. "Long story," he mumbled.

Lann burst out laughing. "It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon. Go on, story time with Kai."

Kai did not burst out laughing with Lann, not that Lann expected him to anyway. Kai sat there with brooding aura cast over him, one that Lann could feel immediately. Now that Lann thought about it, Kai seemed like the kind of person who would bottle emotions up. Lann saw that bottling up emotions was dangerous, because eventually, the bottle would overflow and burst. A wave of emotions would overwhelm the bottler; that would surely lead to madness.

_Just how big is Kai's bottle, anyway? _Lann thought to himself as Kai collected his thoughts.

"You asked why I wanted to join," Kai said.

Lann nodded.

Kai's tone darkened. "I want to destroy the Fomors."

"You and the rest of humanity both," Lann said, but after a look from Kai, he silenced himself.

"The Fomors took someone away from me. That someone was very dear to me, someone I cared for very much. Someone important."

"May I ask who?" Lann inquired quietly.

Kai clenched his hand tightly, his veins popping out from his dirtied skin. "My little sister."

That was unexpected. Lann had predicted that Kai's lover had been taken away, thus turning him into dark and brooding man. A younger sister...what would Kai's younger sister's personality be like?

Lann dared to ask on about his sister, and Kai responded, "She was only just a child. Six years old. She didn't deserve it...a girl so innocent and kind. I couldn't save her. She didn't deserve it..."

Kai scowled at himself, and Lann knew he was right when he thought Kai was a bottler. He had a hunch that, when Kai gets stronger, Kai would be quite a mercenary.

Clapping Kai's back, Lann said, "Hey, that's enough. I don't know what happened, and I won't ask any more of it now, but I do know this. Keeping all of that regret and anger in you won't do you good. In fact, it will do the opposite. All of that was in the past. Let's look at the present. Let's look at the future. Whatever will happen in the future, the present is the time to create it."

Lann got to his feet carefully, not wanting to disturb the rocky foundation they were sitting on, and held out a hand to Kai. "Now come on, if the other three can't get to us, we'll just have to find a way to them, got it?"

Kai stared at Lann for a moment before reaching up to grab on. "Yeah, I got it."

The dual-swordsman pulled the archer up and grinned. "Alright then," Lann said, "let's get out of here."

* * *

><p>Honestly, I have no idea if Kai has a sister or not. I made that part up so don't worry, it's not canon. According to Kai's description, he seems to have lost a beloved person. Now just because a person is beloved, it doesn't mean that they have to be a person's lover. I just thought that a little sister would be more...suitable to my Kai?<p>

I'm bad at explaining that, haha! Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to update a little more quicker. Yay spring break! But it's already halfway-ish over. But then again, I can squeeze in another chapter, I think.


	8. Lost and Found

"Do you know what you're doing?" Karok asked.

Evie bit her lips, squinting into the darkness of the hole that she, Karok, and Fiona cleared out. Actually, Evie was the one who worked hard to move the boulders and slabs away; the others merely watched, knowing it was futile. Knowing Lann, Karok and Fiona reasoned that Lann and Kai would have already escaped somehow.

"Whenever you think that man is dead, he ends up alive. Banged up, bruised, bleeding to death sometimes, but very well alive," Fiona said, examining her shield for dents out of boredom. "They're fine. Lann's too stubborn to die of a simple cave-in, and even if he doesn't want to admit it, he won't let Kai die so easily either."

"I know that," Evie sighed, sitting up. She glanced up at the darkening sky and then back at the other two, who had retreated to the other side and sat around the campfire Karok had built.

"If you know that, then what's the point in looking?" Karok asked casually, holding his hands up to the flames to warm himself. He had forgotten that the ruins could get cold at night; they rarely ever come when the sun goes down, although the few occasions that they do weren't this cold.

"Just to make sure," Evie replied, joining her fellow teammates at the fire. "At least we know they have at least one exit to climb out of. And hey, at least they're getting air in there."

"I wonder if they ended up in another part of the ruins," Fiona murmured to herself.

"Wouldn't it be horrible if they ran into the spiders? Like, the really big ones?" Karok chuckled. His laugh faded under the glares of the girls. "I was kidding," he added hastily.

"You jinxed them," Evie accused tonelessly.

"It doesn't matter if he did or not," Fiona sighed, "they'd end up there by pure stupidity. With Lann's sense of direction, they're bound to end up in a sticky situation, even with a map."

* * *

><p>"I lost the map."<p>

"You _what?_"

"I lost the map..." Lann adverted his eyes from Kai's sharp glare.

"_When?_"

"When we fell into the hole."

"And you didn't think to go look for it?"

Lann rolled his eyes. "My first priority was getting us out of there. It took me so long that I forgot all about it."

The edges of Kai's mouth twitched and Lann wondered if he was starting to get on Kai's bad side. It didn't occur to him that Kai could be angry at _him_. He had thought about Kai getting on his own nerves, but not vice versa.

"But...but...hey, I've been here at the ruins for quite some time now, haha..." Lann laughed. "We can get out easily."

"Okay, so tell me where we are."

"Uhh..."

Lann narrowed his eyes, sweeping the underground cavern. They had found a small tunnel leading out of the rocky room they fell into. With Lann taking the lead, they had crawled out of the hole and through the narrow passage. It had been claustrophobic for Lann, who was used to wide open space (or at least some elbow room), but Kai didn't complain.

The cavern, roughly about the perimeter of the Mercenary Outpost, was brighter than where they were before. Up above their heads were decent sized holes that allowed in light and air. ("We won't suffocate! That's a good thing to know," Lann said cheerfully.)

Rocks piled up along the sides of the cavern but Lann didn't think they needed them. He clapped a hand onto Kai's shoulder. "Well Kai, we got super lucky. You can thank me later, but I happen to have chain hooks with me. You see, I'm usually a spear kind of person, but I decided, what the hell? I'll bring them today. Well, I can shoot the hook up to the holes above us and if it holds, climb our way up."

"Climb our way up?"

"Yeah, got a problem with that?"

Kai looked doubtful and asked if he could see the size of the chain.

The moment he asked, Lann felt his stomach drop a little. "I think I see where you're going here," Lann admitted. "You're thinking whether or not the chain will hold, huh? Well actually, they hold very well. Super durable; I've held down giant polar bears with them, even though we needed like two or three of them at the time and they only held for a few moments."

"Then what about the hook? Can it really get a good grip?"

"Well..."

"It won't work," Kai said immediately.

"We'll never know if we don't find out," Lann shrugged. "Wanna give it a go?"

Kai sighed and shrugged in response.

"I'll take it as a yes."

The chain, like Lann said, was sturdy and was able to withstand their weight. The problem was, like Kai feared, that the hook had difficult finding something to grab onto.

"Damn," Lann hissed as the fourth hook clattered to the floor. "Another one wasted."

Kai watched Lann throw the fourth chain hook away and prepare another one. "Why can't you just reuse it?" Kai asked.

"Reuse a chain hook?" Lann asked blankly. "Don't be silly, we're not allowed to."

"Why?"

Lann furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh...I'm not sure, but I have a feeling as if we're not allowed to. Like...like the world is programmed like that and there's nothing we can do about it unless people were somehow able to control us and hack the system for unlimited tries on a single hook..."

Silence followed and Lann, who shook his head violently to snap out of his thoughts, laughed nervously. "But ah...never mind me, I'm just spouting nonsense again. It won't work, trust me, just...just don't reuse chain hooks. Or spears. Now quit distracting me, I've got work to do."

* * *

><p>"Why don't we scout the ruins and try looking for them?" Karok asked after several minutes passed. "It's getting late, Tieve will worry again."<p>

"Good idea. There's nothing here that we can't take on by ourselves, or at least hold off until another one of us can make it to assist," Evie said.

Fiona stood up and stretched. "We'll meet at the entrance to the ruins within an hour, alright? If you happen to find them, bring them there. If we don't find them, we'll just leave them here. We can blame Lann for the trouble if they find their way back home without a boat."

"Fiona...that's cruel..." Karok and Evie said wearily.

Fiona adverted her eyes, slightly flushed. "I was kidding..."

Silence.

Then Evie gaped at her, making a surprised sound. "What? You made a joke? Karok! Karok!"

"Yeah, I know!" Karok said excitedly. "Fiona made a joke!"

Fiona's face reddened to a darker shade of scarlet and stammered, "Is it...really that big of a deal? You two are just like Lann."

Evie grinned up at her. "Don't worry. We like this side of you, Fiona. It's just that...it's just that it's relieving to see you finally open up a little more."

Fiona turned her back on them, heading out to find Lann and Kai. Ignoring the excited chatter behind her, she wondered if it was better to not make jokes around her team.

* * *

><p>"Alright, well we better go and head out too," Karok said, extinguishing the fire. "Where will you be going, Evie?"<p>

"I'm heading to that one place with the two roller spike things. I want to make sure that I don't find their bodies being ran over repeatedly," Evie said.

"You know," Karok chuckled, "they aren't that stupid to be caught in the roller's path. And if they are caught underneath those spikes, they'll get out of the way in time so that it can't run them over to death."

"You never know," Evie said with a small smile.

Karok shrugged. "Alright, do what you like. Wonder where Fiona's going."

"She's probably heading to the place where most of the big Fomor bosses show up," Evie said thoughtfully.

"Is that so? I guess I'll cover the area in between you guys then. See you in an hour."

"Yes! And if you do happen to run into Lann and Kai, kill Lann, won't you"?

"I plan on it," Karok sighed, cracking his knuckles.

* * *

><p>"That's the ninth one," Kai said tonelessly as the hook slipped from above.<p>

Lann gritted his teeth. "We're lucky we're running this dungeon on hard mode."

Kai blinked at Lann. "Pardon?"

Lann blinked back at Kai in surprise. "Oh, hahaha...sorry, more nonsense. They just burst out randomly. I have no idea what I'm talking about either."

Choosing to ignore the oddness, Kai asked, "How many more hooks do you have?"

"Another nine. I've used half our our hooks."

Lann threw a look over his shoulder and caught Kai hiding a heavy sigh. Kai, in the middle of sitting down, silenced himself when he met Lann's curious eyes and stared back indifferently.

"Sneaky," Lann commented under his breath. "Don't judge. I'm trying the best I can. If only I can find the right angle...ah, here. Alright, here I go."

Lann prepared another hook and shut one eye, aiming with the other, and shot the hook. The small recoil pushed him a little, but it was nothing to him. He was sure that the recoil didn't do anything to ruin the momentum and the angle and the...

"I have no idea what I'm even thinking about," Lann sighed, watching the hook miss completely. The hook slammed into the ceiling of the cavern and plummeted downwards, landing with a loud clatter.

Lann kicked away the hook into a pile of past hooks. While he tried for another, Kai stood up and halted him. "Allow me," he said.

Lann furrowed his brows. "Are you are you can handle it? Do you even know how this works?"

"I'm a fast learner."

That wasn't very insuring but Lann knew that he would waste all the hooks if he kept it up. It was probably best for the long range fighter to handle it, even if that long range fighter happened to be a complete rookie.

"Be my guest," Lann said, handing over the hooks. Once he finished explaining how to equip and shoot a chain hook, he stepped back in wonder as Kai's eyes changed to an even more serious look, if that was even possible.

There was something about Kai that amazed Lann. For a rookie, there was something in the archer's eyes that actually scared Lann. It wasn't a big scare, but Lann knew that if he was a regular person who didn't know a thing about fighting, he'd be paralyzed with fear.

A few seconds passed in tense silence before Kai took a breath. The second he breathed back out was the second he shot. The sudden noise that broke the silence startled Lann, who had expected at least another few seconds of peace, and the hook shot right through the hole.

"Damn, and I thought you'd actually get it," Lann said, holding a hand over his eyes to block out the light that streamed in from above.

"I wasn't aiming for the edge of the hole. That obviously won't hold," Kai said bluntly.

Lann's shoulders slumped at the harsh words, even though they weren't directed at him. "You just crushed my tactics..." Lann muttered. "That's like challenging my intelligence."

Kai seemed like he wanted to say something but decided against it after receiving a suspicious look from the sulking Lann.

"So what are you aiming for, exactly?" Lann asked. The hook had yet to fall down; maybe Kai actually caught onto something.

"I'm hoping to get the hook onto the surface first and slowly pull the chain down. Maybe the hook will catch on something on the ground and it will hold," Kai said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lann cleared his throat and straightened out his back. "O-of course. That was my back-up plan, after all. Good job, Kai. You're clever enough to discover my own plans."

Kai grunted as the hook fell back down after he tugged at the chain a little. "Nothing in that direction," he said to himself. Keeping his gaze upwards at the hole, he shifted around to face another direction before shooting the eleventh chain hook up.

This one also made it to the surface. Kai pulled the chain slowly, listening to the scratches the hook made as it traveled across the stone ground.

The hook also fell down, but Kai wasn't discouraged. He changed position and tried again, and this time, there was a grunt when the hook shot up the hole and onto the surface.

Lann immediately sprung up to his feet and joined a genuinely surprised Kai beneath the hole. "What was that? Did you hear something too?" Lann asked.

Kai nodded and tugged at the chain a little.

Hasty footsteps sounded above them and Kai and Lann exchanged looks. "There's someone up there. We're saved," Lann laughed.

"Who is it?" Kai asked.

The chain slackened as the person above them peered down the hole, giving the two an exasperated look.

"Karok!" Lann shouted.

"Yeah, I know my name," Karok called back down.

Lann stared up at Karok who stared back down at him. He threw a casual glance to Kai and said, "Good to know we all know our names."

"Lann..." Karok sighed.

Lann held his hands up and laughed. "I'm kidding, Karok. Can you help us out?"

"What choice do I have?" he asked. His head disappeared for a moment but he returned, holding the hook Kai shot up in his left hand. "This hook you shot up caught my ankle. Ought to let you know."

"Well what do you know? We got lucky you were around," Lann said, amazed at their good fortune.

"Well, I noticed two hooks pop out of the hole moments before so I came over to investigate," Karok said. He frowned and added, "Am I going to have to pull you out?"

"That would be nice," Lann said, shrugging. "But _can_ you do it?"

Karok snickered for a second before recovering. "Think about that for a moment, Lann." he smirked.

"Oh yeah...well then, Kai, you go first," Lann said, patting the archer on the back.

"What about you?"

"I can go up next."

"But would that be considered reusing a chain hook?"

"Huh?" Lann hadn't thought about that. "I'm not sure. I've never used a hook to escape before. I wonder though..._does_ it count?"

Kai harrumphed. "Better safe than sorry. You first. I can aim the hook out again if I need to."

It was decided then. Lann wrapped the chain around his foot and wrist, hoping that his grieves would prevent his blood circulation from messing up. He threw up his head and called, "Karok! Ready!"

"Don't fall then," he called back. From where Lann was at, he could see that Karok had wrapped the chain around both his hands. Lann sincerely hoped that he didn't lose his footing and fall down.

At that moment, Lann was sure that Evie would have accused him of jinxing it.

Lann was halfway out and he could already make out the feeling of freedom. He could see the sky and he never thought that seeing the open sky and feeling the cool air would be so good.

His ascent stopped and he swung a little in the air, thirty feet from the ground. He glanced down to meet Kai's concerned gaze and then he looked up. "Karok?" he called.

No answer.

"Oi, Karok! Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Still no answer.

Concerned, Lann reached up the chain with the intention of climbing the rest of the way up. When he started his own ascent without outside help, Karok barked out, "No, Lann, don't!" His voice was extremely faint, but Lann was able to hear it.

Lann ceased his climbing. He was a mere fifteen feet away from freedom. Why on earth would he stop now? "What's wro-" He yelped as the chain slipped a few inches. He jerked to an abrupt stop, suddenly feeling acrophobic.

"What's going on?" Kai asked loudly, his voice echoing in the cavern. "Where's Karok?"

"Didn't you hear him?"

"When?"

"Just a few seconds ago."

Kai was silent for a moment. Lann peered down at the archer as he finally said, "No, I didn't. He must be pretty far then. What's going on?"

"I'd like to know the same," Lann said. "Karok, what's the matter now-"

The chain slipped again. Lann yelped once more and held onto the chain with both hands, realizing what a painful fall it would be if he were to come crashing down now.

He was about to call out again but something caught his attention. It was slight but it sounded as if there was a fight.

The image of Karok holding onto the chains that held Lann thirty feet in the air as he fought with Fomors slightly alarmed him. It would be difficult to fight without a weapon, but since Karok was able to fight bare-handed, Lann didn't think it was too much of a problem. Or so he thought.

The chain slackened again and Lann actually screamed as he plummeted a couple feet. Shaking, he called down, "Hey, Kai! If I fall, catch me, will ya?"

No answer.

"Kai!"

"Yes?"

"Will you catch me?"

Pause. Then, "Maybe."

"Good. Wait, what? A _maybe?_ What do you mean by that?"

"There's a chance that I won't be able to catch you," Kai said with a small hint of amusement.

Lann scowled down at the archer as he spun in circles, first counterclockwise, then clockwise. "Kai!" Lann yelled over his right shoulder. The chain then spun in the other direction, causing Lann to look over his left shoulder as he scowled, "If you weren't paying attention and I happened to fall without someone to catch me, I swear I'll cut your food rations for a week! And you won't get a plate of Tieve's pancakes the next time she makes them!"

Normally, a mercenary would beg to change the punishment if they weren't allowed to eat pancakes. But Kai seemed unaffected by the 'harsh' punishment.

It had been a while since Lann had slipped again. For a moment, he thought Karok was holding up pretty well without weapons. He imagined his wild swings sent them running, but after a few minutes of assuming that, he reasoned that if Karok released the chain with one hand and held on with one hand, the small chain would slip through no matter how tight his grip would be and they'd both fall.

"Karok, how are you holding up?" Lann called.

He craned his neck upwards, not that it would help him hear his response any better. "I'm sorry! Just give me...a few more minutes!"

Lann sighed. "Hey! What are you fighting anyway? Gnolls? They're not that hard, Karok, just trick them into hitting each other! They're incredibly dumb, you know. Remember that," Lann added to Kai.

"No!" Karok yelled from above ground.

"Huh?" Lann narrowed his eyes. "No? No to what?"

"Not gnolls!"

"Not gnolls?" Lann repeated. "Then what the hell are they?"

"Werewolves!"

"Ha?" Lann felt his stomach drop again. "But...but...werewolves are only found in the battle quest 'Trample Plains', and that's a level thirty battle! Aren't we in a lower level area?"

"What? Did you hit your head or what?" Karok sounded flustered.

"Shit. My bad! More nonsense!"

Lann could have sworn he heard Karok say, "Of all times to be saying such things..."

"If he's fighting, tell him to let you down so that he can properly fight them," Kai said.

Lann raised his eyebrows. Pointing down at Kai, he said, "I like you. You're smart. Oi, Karok! You hear tha- obviously not, what am I talking about? Karok! Put me down first! Then you can kill them!"

At once, Lann found himself free-falling. Screaming from the top of his lungs, he yelled, "Slowly! SLOWLY!"

Another scream followed his words and he opened his eyes a little to see Karok dangerously close to the edge of the hole. Down below, he heard Kai's voice loud and clear when he barked, "Let go of the chain!"

Was Lann _that_ close to the ground already? _Damn, Kai better keep his word and catch me._

Lann braced for impact and he collided into the ground, missing Kai by several feet. The impact was blunt and dull, but it was quick. Due to his plate armor, Lann didn't feel so bad after the fall. His bones seemed to be fine, there were no split heads or concussions, and there was no exposed injury. His heart was racing, but he would be fine.

Nevertheless, he hissed at Kai and snapped, "Why didn't you catch me?"

Before the archer could answer, Lann found himself incredibly compressed on the floor, his head throbbing horribly. Not able to breathe, he gasped and swallowed for air. _What hit me? _Lann thought in alarm.

The weight shifted off of him and he was able to breathe in air again. It was a miracle that he was still in one piece, although he felt that his bones were on the brink of cracking. He felt fragile, as if a single poke at his ribs would break him.

"Karok?" Lann asked wearily, glancing around him. Karok, who had rolled off to the right of Lann, gritted his teeth and coughed, specks of blood landing onto the ground. His hands had chain markings on them and his broad arms bled freely from scratches and bites.

"Sorry about that," Karok grunted. "One of them entered my blind spot and rammed into me. I lost my balance and...I fell."

Kai approached them, kneeling down, and asked, "Are you two alright?"

Lann groaned but he nodded. Karok couldn't help but chuckle a little before nodding.

"So do you think the werewolves will jump down here and keeping fighting?" Kai asked, glancing up at the hole.

"They're looking at us right now," Karok said thoughtfully as the three locked eyes with the Fomors snarling from the hole.

"Will they jump? Will they not jump? Kai, you got arrows left?" Lann asked wearily.

"But will that work? They'll buy us time but we don't need time, not really. We need to leave," Karok said.

"So what? Wait until they go? Oh, hey wait, where's Fiona and Evie?" Lann asked.

"They're in different parts of the ruins, looking for you two," Fiona said.

"You think they'll come to this area?" Lann asked hopefully.

Karok shrugged. "Fiona's probably looking in the harder areas while Evie's looking in the easier ones. Our best bet is to go back to the hole. Evie cleared it out."

"What? She did?" Lann asked. He grinned and kicked away the chains. "Let's go then! Screw this place, we're going back!"

"Where is back?" Karok asked, glancing around the cavern wearily.

"There's a small tunnel over there," Kai said, pointing behind him.

Lann struggled to get to his feet and brushed the dirt from his pants. "How well is the hole cleared?" he asked.

"Lann, it's Evie," Karok said. "Evie's very thorough. She probably made the hole even bigger."

"It won't collapse again, will it?" Kai asked.

"We'll have to see," Lann said.


	9. So Close and Yet So Far

After Lann and Kai went through the tunnels and adjusted them for Karok and his impressive muscles (that sometimes made Lann want to be a giant), the three climbed back to the caved-in area where a large hole opened up to the outside world.

"That wasn't there before," Lann noted, staring up at the hole. "You're right though. Evie did a good job clearing it out."

It was still high up but the mountain of rocks and boulders beside it acted as their ladder and it wasn't long before they made it back. Karok watched as awe took over Lann's face as he stared at the night sky. It seemed as if the man lost track of the time and was genuinely surprised at the darkness.

"Where do we go now?" Kai asked Karok. "Do we go find the others or meet up at a rendevous spot?"

It was Lann's turn to examine Karok's face. Kai's sudden talkative manner caught Karok off guard, but then again, many things caught Karok off guard. Especially the different human concepts and traditions. Lann snickered at the memory of a rookie Karok staring at the forks and spoons, as if questioning their use.

Over time, however, Karok was able to recover fairly quickly, and so his surprise washed away and he said, "Fiona said we'd meet up at the entrance in an hour."

"How long has it been now?" Lann asked.

A moment passed in silence and Karok answered uncertainly, "Almost an hour?"

"Where was the sun when she first said this?" Kai asked.

"It was a little after it set below the horizon," Karok said, giving Kai and interested look. "Why? Can you figure it out?"

Kai frowned and glanced around, examining the moon and the stars. "Honestly? It's hard to say at this point. But it's probably past an hour by now. Just a little bit past."

Karok sighed. "Well...Fiona said that if we didn't meet up at the entrance in time, she'd leave without you."

Lann gaped at Karok. "What? She said that? Fiona? Are you sure Evie didn't say that? Because of all people, Fiona would never say that!"

The edged of Karok's lips curved upwards into a grin. "That's okay," he mused. "She said she was joking."

Though Kai's face remained indifferent, Lann's eyes widened and he started to grin widely. "Fiona made a joke?" he questioned. "A joke? Fiona?"

"That's exactly what I thought too!" Karok exclaimed, and he and Lann clapped each other on the back, roaring their heads off. After all these years, even Fiona couldn't help but play around occasionally. The concept of this sudden behavior pattern threw them off, but it was hilarious just thinking about it.

They finally sobered when Kai cleared his throat impatiently. "Should we go to the entrance then?" he asked.

"Let's just go see if the boat's still there," Lann snickered. "If it is, then why don't we just leave without her?"

"And Evie?" Karok asked.

Lann considered this for a while. Evie had her share of jokes and pranks, and sometimes, the pranks were enough to actually make Lann yell. Of course, Evie was never affected by his rage, which made him even more furious. This, she knew and used it to her advantage.

"Let's leave her too."

Karok gave Kai a weary smile and then he reached over to pick Lann up, draping his body over his shoulder.

"Karok!" Lann yelled. "What have I told you about throwing people over your shoulder?"

"Just making sure you won't actually leave without them," Karok said casually. He beckoned for Kai to follow him back towards the entrance while Lann, not even attempting to struggle, locked eyes with an uncomfortable Kai.

"Just to let you know," Lann said under his breath to the archer, "I would never leave my teammates behind, or any other comrades. If you're ever with me, which you have been, then you would know I play around in non-serious situations.

"If you're with Fiona, she's usually serious. Actually, she's like you. Now, if you're with Evie, she's worse than me. Trust me, I know," Lann said, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "Karok here is a good mix between serious and laid-back. He's pretty reliable and he's the best prank buddy around-"

"Thank you," Karok said.

"You're welcome!" Lann responded back over his shoulder. He cleared his throat and added to Kai, "But don't worry. We all know when to behave. In the middle of a fight, we're completely different. I already told you this but it's true. You've never seen us fight as a team before yet so you wouldn't know. But when you do see us, you'll understand."

Minutes later, when they trampled into the 'low-level areas', according to Lann's nonsense talk, they ran into Evie who was greatly relieved that Lann and Kai weren't constantly run over by rolling spiky traps.

"Evie, we'd have the common sense to get out of the traps if we ever came across one," Lann said pointedly.

Evie poked Lann's face with a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately," she said, "common sense isn't so common anymore."

She hopped away and out of Lann's reach, grinning as he thrashed over Karok's shoulder while demanding she repeat herself.

"Where's Fiona?" EVie asked, ignoring Lann who tired himself immediately when he saw she wasn't paying attention anymore.

Karok frowned. "She didn't pass through here?"

"No. And she should have if she was heading towards the entrance," Evie said, suddenly worried.

Lann lifted his head wearily and frowned. "Maybe she's heading our way now."

"Should we continue or back up and find her?" Karok asked.

The four stood in silence, exchanging looks with each other. Evie stretched and yawned as Karok and Kai stared up at the night sky. Lann faced the ground, dangling like a rag doll from the giant's broad shoulders. He sighed and thought that if Fiona was really heading their way, she'd catch up to them by now.

He knew her longer and he was certain she wouldn't keep them waiting unnecessarily longer than they ahd to. Unless if it was a prank, but he ultimately decided that Fiona wouldn't go that far. Evie and Karok might, but not Fiona.

"Let's go back," Lann said.

"I was thinking the same as well," Evie said. She wheeled on her heels and marched back, retracing their steps. The other three followed suit, with Karok mentioning that Fiona could most likely be found in the harder areas.

"But at this point, all of us except Kai are nearly level forty," Lann said reassuringly. "If Fiona happens to be found in a super high-level dungeon, she can stall for enough time for us to get her. I mean, with that shield of hers, she can heavy-stand anything. But then again, the only super high-;eve dungeon around here is 'Trampled Plains'. Well, until some random update appeared and changed that."

Lann paused, narrowing his eyes. "Dammit Nexon," he scowled, "if you just randomly created a new dungeon in this nightmare of a maze, I'm sure to get lost again!"

"What are you talking about? Level forty? Dungeon? Nexon? Update? Kai, did Lann hit his head?" Evie asked in concern.

Kai shrugged and Karok sighed. "He fell down and I accidentally landed on him," Karok said meekly.

Evie stared at Lann. "That explains it."

"He was like this before that though," Kai murmured.

Lann glanced at him. "Oi. I thought you were supposed to be the silent type."

"Not anymore, apparently," Evie beamed.

On the outside, Lann rolled his eyes dismissively. On the inside, he was glad Kai was finally warming up to them. And how that he thought about it, five people in a team was a fairly good number.

Of course, they still have to find Fiona, and then the team would be reunited. Until then, they followed Evie as they backtracked towards the cave-in and then past it and into the harder areas of the ruins.


	10. Defense and Offense

It never occurred to Fiona that the others would run into the missing swordsman and archer before she would. Knowing Lann, she thought it safe to assume that he had led himself and Kai to their doom somewhere deep in the ruins. It unnerved her slightly, but she refused to turn back, regardless of the darkening skies.

However, the further she ventured, the later it became, and she couldn't help but feel slightly flustered at their predicament. What would the other Blades think when they return? Not only were they sent off to train a rookie—which, in fact, did not require a whole team of mercenaries to do—but they just so happened to lose each other and get lost. The embarrassment! The horror!

Before long, Fiona found herself at the top of a set of stairs leading to an open space reserved for the dramatic appearances of highly ranked enemies. As usual, the Fomorian barrier glowed red at the far end, and she knew that she could not progress any further than this area. Meaning, she hoped, that Lann and Kai would be near.

Stepping out under the moonlight, she surveyed the ruinous grounds, pursing her lips when she saw no sign of her comrades. Calling out their names would be dangerous, but given the lack of light available, searching in the shadows would be just as worse.

A stone below her crumbled as she stepped forward. She hesitated, shield slightly raised, sword slowly sweeping the air before her as she shot hurried glances from one side to the other. Nothing stirred.

It wasn't until she started to descend the stairs did clouds of black smoke formed near the Fomorian barrier. Low, husky growls and snarls alarmed her, and she eyed the two werewolves bounding towards her. She's fought them several times before; this time would be no different.

Except, for some odd reason, they seemed to be larger than she remembered. They were now more vivid and lively, more sinister and aggressive. It didn't take her long before she shot a bewildered look to the moon.

The first impact was easily blocked. There was no need for Fiona to get down into her heavy-stander. The second attack was too easily blocked. For a split second, she was relieved that the werewolves were no stronger despite their appearance in the full moon.

And then a heavy force knocked her back, pain shooting up her left forearm. She landed on her back and skidded into a broken column, skin raw and red. Slightly dazed, Fiona blinked rapidly at the wild figures leaping in and out of her vision. One of them lunged for her, but she managed to raise her shield before a set of jagged teeth and claws could reach her. One counterattack later, her sword lodged itself into the werewolf's neck, and yet, it was too shallow and the wolf swiped a paw at Fiona, sending her flying to the side.

"I underestimated you," she breathed to herself, picking herself back up at once. Her right shoulder might have been dislocated, but no matter. She rolled it back into place without so much as a wince. With her sword-arm healed, she gave a few warning swings at the werewolves before running to them with the intent of bloodshed.

* * *

><p>Kai knew the sound of an injured animal. He was familiar with the sound of one, and he could hear the howl of a dying beast. It echoed through the ruins, causing the team to halt.<p>

"Karok, put me down," Lann said sharply.

To Kai's surprise, the giant did without a retort. Upon closer inspection, Lann's demeanor had shifted. But no, not only him, but Evie and Karok too sobered.

"Is that what I think it is?" Evie asked.

"Werewolves," Karok confirmed, "no doubt about it."

"Fiona," Lann said under his breath.

"That was the sound of a dying animal," Kai interrupted. "Fiona's probably fighting them, and winning." There was no need to worry about her. Fiona came across as the kind of person who didn't need to be looked after.

"Yeah, we know that," Karok said grimly.

"The fact that it's Fiona who happened to find them is what worries us," Evie murmured.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows slightly at them. Seeing that he wasn't comprehending the situation, Karok hastily added, "We know Fiona can handle them but—"

"She's going to kill them all before we even get there!" Lann exploded. "She should know by now to leave some of the fun to us! That greedy woman! Karok, Evie, Kai, come on! Before she kills them!"

Sometimes, Kai wondered why he even bothered.

* * *

><p>Fiona found herself panting heavily. She was certain that she had a head wound; there was blood seeping into her collar. But that was the least of her worries. Although she had killed the brown werewolf, which was the weaker of the two, another had shown up. How odd. This wasn't supposed to happen.<p>

And when she managed to kill the newcomer, another would appear. The black werewolf seemed to have strategically retreated to the perimeters, watching her from a distance as she fought off the waves of normal werewolves.

"Where are they coming from?" she gasped, coughing.

The beasts were making an awful amount of noise whenever she struck them with her blade. As one died, the black werewolf would howl in agony, and a new opponent would show up for her, only for its fate to be the same as its predecessor.

After the seventh—or was it the eighth? Hell if she knew. She just couldn't get a break in between kills, and she knew that the longer she continued fighting like this, the more likely she'd die of exhaustion before rabies. If only there was time for her to down a potion without it spilling down her front. If only there was time for her to temporarily repair her shield. She feared it would break soon.

And when it did, she was forced to dodge attacks, seeing that she could no longer counter. If her enemy was some other Fomor, she wouldn't have minded as much. Werewolves, however, were never in one place for too long like most of the other Fomors. Their movements made it difficult for her to land a good blow, and without a shield to protect her as she baited, there wasn't too much she could do but hurl random items in their direction.

That is, if she was able to find any more items. Though the full moon gave better light than any other phase, there were still several shadows all over the area, and she didn't dare wander into the darkness with that black werewolf stalking the grounds, invisible to her.

Her heart jumped. Speaking of the black werewolf, where was it? The last she saw it, it was slinking towards the stairs where she had came from. She glanced to the stairs with the hope of seeing it, but there was nothing there.

Almost as if it could sense her looking for it, the black werewolf suddenly pounced on her from behind, pinning her down. From her perspective, she could only make out the dark, matted fur. A paw was pressing down on her chest, restricting her breathing. Another paw was dangerously close to snapping her wrist; any more pressure on it and she was sure she would end up with a broken bone.

The pressure vanished. But not before a brief moment where it had intensified. The werewolf's sudden jump off of her was enough to thoroughly break her wrist, and maybe a rib or two. She couldn't tell anymore. Paralyzed, Fiona allowed her gaze to wander to the side where familiar faces appeared over her.

Lann was the first to reach her, though he didn't stay long. Once he saw the Fomor coming once more, he took off in a series of twists and turns, spinning in a shower of light gleaming from his blades. Evie and Kai were to follow; Kai came to a full stop and nocked an arrow, drawing the bowstring as Evie made a mad dash to Fiona's side.

"Fiona!" Evie shrieked. A flash of light blinded Fiona, but she felt the majority of her pain lessen, and she was able to sit up, albeit slowly.

"Thank you, Evie," Fiona coughed.

Karok thundered past them, slamming the end of his pillar into the face of the enemy. The werewolf whimpered upon impact and scurried to its feet after landing a good distance away. It furiously pawed at the ground, looking as if it wanted to attack but didn't want to with so many new enemies.

"Where were they?" Fiona asked Evie quietly.

"Who?"

"Lann and Kai."

"Oh!" Evie cleared her throat anxiously, glancing up at Kai. "Umm...good question. I ran into them with Karok."

"They were in a hole," Karok grunted.

"A hole?" Fiona asked, somewhat astounded.

Lann found himself jogging back to the group, gasping for air. "Oh goddess," he croaked. "I overdid it...I need to rest for a moment..."

Evie's eyes darted behind Lann. She started. "Lann," she said, voice rising urgently, "he's not dead yet!"

"What?"

As he turned, Lann could feel the moist, hot breath of the desperate beast trying to kill before getting killed. At this point, there was nothing that Lann could do but to brace himself for the pain that was to come, but a burning sensation zipped past his cheek—scorching the ends of his hair—and pierced the werewolf, flinging the monster back and away from him.

He shot Kai a stunned expression, to which the archer nocked another arrow and said, "Magnum shot," as if that explained everything.

"Is it just me," Karok began, "or does the atmosphere feel different?"

"Look," Evie said, pointing to the black smoke surrounding them. A small pack of werewolves faced them, circling around and around, watching, waiting. There was barely an opening to escape the ring, and even if they could take the opportunity to escape, it would alert the beasts and a brutal fight would ensue.

As if it wouldn't happen as the way things were right now.

"Can you stand?" Karok asked Fiona.

"Yeah, I can now," she replied, rotating her hand to test her wrist. "Not perfectly healed but it'll do for now," she said to herself. Throwing a look to Lann, she asked, "What's the plan?"

Lann gave her a short laugh. "Did you forget who you're talking to?"

"Right, right," Fiona said under her breath.

Kai shifted his weight to the other leg, looking at Lann. "There's no plan, is there?"

"Well would you look at that?" Lann grinned. "It's like he's always been part of the group."


End file.
